2014 Challenge, Week 7: STILL LIFE - CAMERA - The 2022 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge

Wow, the PhotoChallenge.org community seems to have exploded with new members this year. Awesome! We love seeing all the amazing and creative photos the community comes up with every week. Since there’s been an influx of new people, I thought I’d start of with a quick rundown of the rules.

The rules are pretty simple:

Post one shot each week for theme posted on this blog to Google+, Facebook, or Flickr (or all three). Tag the photo #photochallenge.org. or #photochallenge2014.
The shot should be a new shot taken for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog.
Have fun.

That’s it. If you miss a week, no worries. The challenge isn’t a competition, it’s for you to learn and grow as photographer, and hopefully make some new friends along the way. It’s acceptable to post “make up” shots, but try not to make that a habit. We want the photos posted each week to remain in the theme, but know that people have lives, families, get sick, etc.

Now onto this week’s theme: Still Life – Camera. We love cameras, maybe we’re even obsessed with them. The sound of a shutter opening and closing is majestic, and nothing compares to the feeling of your favorite camera in your hand as you press the shutter button. This week you get to train your camera on a camera.

“voigtlander vitessa l773-74” by mondays child

Old cameras make great subjects, but you can use any camera you have available. With a still life the composition, lighting, and background are as important as the subject. The shot above uses a simple gray background with a slight texture that compliments the texture of the camera body.

By contrast, the image below uses other cameras in the background to set the stage. Controlling the depth of field provides separation between the subject and the background. The lighting and surface compliment the color of the camera tying the shot together.

“Olympus PEN-EE S (meio quadro)” by Silvio Tanaka

Reflections and lighting are used in the shot below to accent the main subjects. Using these two cameras together in the shot is a great choice of subjects that adds a compelling story.

“Why Not Both?” by Mosi Lager

Here the texture of the table, grain in the photo, and the use of black and white set the mood of this shot and give it a vintage feel. I also really like the contrast and tones.

“.through her eyeS” by Sippanont Samchai

You don’t have to just use a camera, you can add in other related elements, like the empty film spools in the this shot. I picked this shot because of the background. It looks like a sheet, which is something anyone can get ahold of and use for still life photography.

“Zeiss Ikon Box-Tengor” by Ralf

And finally, just a cool shot of a cool camera. My wife had a K-1000 way back when we were dating. It’s a great 35mm camera.

“Things I Like: Pentax K1000” by Dave Lawrence

We all want to see your best shot! So, share your single submission with us all on at least one of our social media groups at Google+, Facebook, or Flickr.

Also, here are the links I shared last week with some tips: